So how does one go about getting a legal handgun in New York?
There are seven categories of handgun licenses in the city, and the rules for getting a license are complex. Below are the various handgun licenses, with the number of license holders, as of Oct. 30. The licenses vary in how they govern the owning or carrying of a handgun; New York does not have a separate permit for buying a handgun.

Licenses held by retired law enforcement officers (14,809). Retired police officers are usually permitted to keep and carry a personal handgun.

“Carry licenses” for security guards (3,241). Licenses issued to actively employed security guards to carry a holstered handgun during their regular work shifts. The guard may carry the gun directly to or from his or her residence and workplace. At all other times, the handgun must be stored, unloaded, in a locked container, either at home (within New York State) or the workplace.

“Full carry” licenses (2,291). Licenses issued to residents who have demonstrated a specific need to carry a holstered handgun on their persons. The category includes people who have received threats or who regularly handle large amounts of cash.

“Special carry” licenses (1,046). Similar to “full carry” licenses, these licenses are issued to residents of New York State who live outside of New York City but have gone through the valid process for carrying a handgun in their home jurisdiction.

Premises licenses, commercial (872). Licenses issued to business owners to keep a firearm at their place of business.

“Limited carry” licenses (241). Similar to “full carry” licenses, except that the license carries specific conditions and restrictions — for example, carrying a holstered handgun while making a cash delivery from a place of business to a specific bank branch. The handgun must be stored at the place of business listed at all other times.

Applicants for a handgun license in the city must apply in person; submit many documents; pay a $340 fee and a fingerprinting fee ($94.25 for applicants who use the fingerprint-scanning machine or $105.25 for those who submit ink fingerprints); and demonstrate that they have received safety training.

In a separate process, New York City requires that all rifles and shotguns be registered, which is not the case in the rest of the state. Many of those license holders are hunters. They are permitted to transport their guns and ammunition in separate locked containers, directly to and from an authorized range or hunting location. All guns must be unloaded while being transported. There are 21,439 rifle and shotgun licenses. The registration fee is $140 for three years; there is a one-time, $90 fingerprinting fee for rifle and shotgun owners.

In general, among those ineligible for licenses are people who have been arrested or convicted of crimes, including domestic violence, and people with histories of mental illness.

Of the seven categories, the “full carry” handgun licenses have drawn the most attention. In 2006, The New York Post reported that a number of well-known figures in business, entertainment and politics were those with permits to carry concealed weapons, including Ronald S. Lauder, the cosmetics executive; Donald J. Trump, the real estate investor; Edgar Bronfman Sr., founder of Seagrams; the actors Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel; the radio hosts Howard Stern and Don Imus; and the State Senate majority leader at the time, Joseph L. Bruno, who lives upstate but had an office in Manhattan.

That year, the mayor suggested that the city might reduce the number of gun licenses, saying: “We’ve taken a look at it to see whether we couldn’t have fewer. I can tell you one thing: We will keep it to as a minimum as we possibly can.”

Mr. Bloomberg asked Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly to look at the issue, and added: “If you want a gun permit, you should have to really show that your life is in danger, and that having a gun will protect you, will improve the chances of you surviving.”

In 2007, The Post reported that other gun-license holders included Donald Trump Jr.; the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown; the Westchester County district attorney, Janet DiFiore; Tommy Mottola, the music executive; Isaac Perlmutter, chief executive of Marvel Comics; the lawyers Barry Slotnick and Raoul Felder; the publisher Robert Forbes; and the political activist Fernando Mateo.

Paul J. Browne, a deputy commissioner and the Police Department’s chief spokesman, said the number of “full carry” permits had steadily declined, from 2,876 in 2005, to 2,565 in 2006, 2,415 in 2007, and 2,291 as of the end of October.

An applicant who is denied a license may appeal in writing to the Police Department’s License Division; if the appeal is denied, the applicant has the right to file a challenge in State Supreme Court. Such challenges are rarely successful.

As with many gun-related issues, the licensing of residents to carry concealed handguns varies widely by state. (There is also variation in laws covering long guns. New York State is one of a handful with a ban on assault weapons, defined in the law as semiautomatic rifles with the ability to accept a detachable magazine, in combination with other characteristics from a long list.)

Two states, Wisconsin and Illinois, prohibit carrying a concealed handgun outright. Another 35 states say that local law enforcement authorities “shall issue” concealed-weapon permits to residents who meet certain criteria. Another 11 states, including New York, say local law enforcement authorities “may issue” such permits. And two remaining states, Alaska and Vermont, require no permit to carry a concealed handgun.

The National Rifle Association has argued that giving local law enforcement authorities discretion to issue gun-carry permits results in favoritism for rich and influential people. The mayor’s office “has given concealed-carry permits to the Hollywood elite, friends of the mayor, and the financially powerful — whereas the regular Joes and Janes who probably need it more are plain flat out of luck,” an N.R.A. spokesman told The Post in 2006.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence has the opposite view. “We support what the vast majority of law enforcement supports: the vast majority of law enforcement in both Wisconsin and Illinois feels that having no issuance of concealed handguns is the way to go,” said Brian Malte, director of state legislation at the Brady Campaign.

Correction: An earlier version of this article, relying on imprecise information from the Police Department, incorrectly reported that the licenses for rifles and shotguns were part of the category of licenses for handguns on residential premises. The article has been updated to make it clear that shotguns and rifles are handled separately from the seven categories of handgun licenses discussed in the article.

Gosh, I sure do feel safe knowing that only 6,819 civilians in NYC are out and about carrying guns (this is not counting licenses held by LE former officers, premise/residence licenses, or premise/business licenses. That’s only 0.082%! No wonder I never hear about any gun crimes in NYC. Because we all know criminals don’t carry guns in defiance of gun laws.

Another way to think about the above statistic is NYC government only trusts 0.082% of the civilian population to carry guns in public. So I guess that means that 99.918% of the NYC population are homicidal maniacs who would, if given access to legal guns, would immediately go on shooting sprees. There, but for the grace of draconian gun laws, go I.

A better way to deal with gun crimes would be harsh mandatory sentences for crimes committed with guns.

Yet another reason to get rid of this despicable mayor, as if all of the other weren’t enough.

If a Mumbai-type scenario developed in NYC, should NYers end up like the helpless sheep there, with no way to defend themselves?

How long will people allow themselves to be manipulated by the awful, leftist media, who won’t publish the facts like every municipality that passes concealed-carry enjoys DOWNTURN in its crime rates?

If you know a police car with radar is up ahead, human nature (and intelligence) says to slow down. If a criminal is afraid that any or many of those people carrying nice pocketbooks, wallets, etc., up ahead may have a gun, he will not try to rob them. And the statistics bear this out.

After the 9/11 attacks – which I personally lived through up close – and so many other crimes/terrorist attacks where if the victim was armed would have not been hurt/killed, it is hard to understand how anyone could still think disarming the public makes sense.

Other states allow conceal-carry, yet they have far lower crime rates than NY…wonder why that is? And it is humorous to see Bloomberg, with his army of cops and bodyguards – which I must pay for – pressing to disarm the public. And of course weak civil servants like Ray Kelly want to do so as well, so the cops can claim only they are responsible for defending people. Just all nonsense.

The DC ban was overturned, and I can’t wait for the NRA to sue NYC for the arbitrary and contrary-to the 2nd amendment procedures it maintains here in NY to “allow” people their right – that is to own a gun and defend themselves.

Unfortunately, like lifeboats being required AFTER the Titanic sank, it will take more attacks before people start to recognize how stupid the current mayor and this anti-gun policy is.

If a civilian had had a gun on that bus at Malcolm X and Gates Avenue in Brooklyn yesterday the bus driver would be alive and the criminal would be dead. But Bloomberg is right and everyone else is wrong so nevermind.

The ironic thing is that a lot of good civilians are going to start buying illegal guns very soon to protect themselves when the bad times return. And they will return; the city is broke, thanks again Bloomberg.

“Another way to think about the above statistic is NYC government only trusts 0.082% of the civilian population to carry guns in public.”

Actually, the NYC government trusts 0% of the civilian population to carry guns in public, but must make concessions that they don’t have the political clout to kill.

If only criminals had guns, criminals would be so much easier to identify, don’t you think? Stop channeling John Wayne and start thinking of how often you hear stories of some 7 year old Crown Heights kid shot in the head two blocks away from a stray bullet in some firefight.

Is the crime rate in New York, New York higher or lower than in Burlington, Vermont? Does this indicate the permitted carry of concealed handguns increases or reduces crime?

Answer: The violent crime rate is somewhat lower in Burlington, Vermont — a city which permits nearly everyone to carry a concealed weapon. It seems allowing only the rich and famous in NYC to carry handguns is not having a significant effect in reducing the crime rate.

New Yorkers are victims and they will always be victims if they dont stand up for there rights. They believe that their city government make the best decisions for the people. Stay on your island sanctuary and beleive that the boogy man wont get you. You have a mayor that is changing laws to get re-elected. You have a city council that is helping him do it. There are other leaders around the world that have done the same thing to get what they want. There names are Hitler, Chavez, Stalin, Pot, Castro. Wake up you still have a vote. You can change this. Isnt this the year of change.

The states with full-carry laws rarely have issues with license holders as criminals don’t go to the police station to get fingerprinted and have a background check performed.

The detailed background check on persons that wish to purchase a handgun is much more important than restrictions on who can carry a firearm as an irresponsible gun-owner will face charges is the firearm or weapon is misused.

Case in point: An MTA employee is currently sitting in jail charged with murder as he was defending himself from a gang assault where he was almost stabbed to death. He mistakingly stabbed a person whom he believed was part of the gang.

Leave it to Manhattan DA Bob Morganthau to twist around a case of self-defense for a honest resident walking home from work.

If everyone on that bus in Brooklyn had a gun, there probably would have been more innocent blood shed, and the driver would probably still be dead. The fear of being shot by concealed-weapons carriers might deter some thieves, but is it worth the cost in terms of innocent victims? What if Plaxico had accidentally shot an NRA member instead of himself? Are all you NRA posters willing to take a bullet for the team?

Sam, you got it backwards. The criminal knifer on that bus would never even attempted to commit the crime if he knew he was facing say 20 people trained in handgun usage on that bus.

“Innocent victims”? Such as people shot in cross-fire? You don’t get it, there would be fewer criminal attempts period if more people were armed.

Why do liberals understand human nature perfectly – except when it comes to guns? So many people in NY have been brainwashed by the media; in other parts of the country, there is far less violence and far more guns owned. So much of it has to do with people becoming comfortable handling guns from an early age.

I wonder how many people like Sam, who are so against gun ownership – who of course ignored my earlier points about the terrorist attacks – have ever even handled a firearm. Have you, Sam?

#10 Rott635 you are incorrect about your quote about arming the general populace. You are comparing a backwards civilization with open access to guns to a modernized industrial nation and gun control. Look up Kennesaw, GA Mandatory Gun laws for some enlightenment.

In 1982 the city of Kennesaw, GA passed an ordinance that required citizens to own and maintain a gun in their homes, barring convicted criminals and people who have an ethical objection to gun ownership. At the time the ordinance was enacted, the crime rate in the city dropped significantly. Kennesaw was rated the safest city in the US and continues to rank high on that list today.

In addition to nearly non-existent homicide (murders have averaged a mere 0.19 per year), the annual number of armed robberies, residential burglaries, commercial burglaries, and rapes have averaged, respectively, 1.69, 31.63, 19.75, and 2.00 through 1998.

“Answer: The violent crime rate is somewhat lower in Burlington, Vermont — a city which permits nearly everyone to carry a concealed weapon. It seems allowing only the rich and famous in NYC to carry handguns is not having a significant effect in reducing the crime rate.”

Baloney. The crime rate is lower in Burlington for many reasons (less poverty, less drug addiction, less crowding, and so on), but the lack of laws governing the concealed carry of firearms certainly isn’t one of them. I’m a handgun owner who has lived in Vermont for 40 years, and I’ve never carried a concealed weapon, nor do I know of anyone (outside of law enforcement) who has.

To all the ignorant New York haters out there who assume that the City is a dangerous place, I would like to point out that Congressinal Quaterly magazine just published the violent crime rates based on FBI statistics. NYC is 259th on the list, making it one of the safest cities in the country.

I would suggest that NY is safe because we have strict gun laws and as someone who actually lives here, I fully support those laws.

It’s very easy to sit at your computer and smugly type about the inherent fallability of human nature during times of crisis, such as robberies or stabbings or whatever. But the fact of the matter is that if someone tries to mug you, and you have a gun, you don’t get mugged. If you don’t have a gun, you do get mugged.

Ergo, everyone with reasonable mental equilibrium and safety training has the right to carry a gun on the streets, so as to protect themselves from mugging. The $1000 license fee is immoral.

Yes #6, Rott, if only the criminals had guns the criminals would be much easier to indentify. The law abiding citizens would be the ones face down in the gutter, stripped of their possessions with a bullet in the back of the head.

Truly idiotic, these arguments about “well, if xxx had a gun, this wouldn’t have happened.” Pure idiocy.

Consider this: its true that if the bus driver or all the passengers had guns, he may not have been murdered. But consider alternative outcomes – how many more people would’ve been killed, either in domestic disputes, accidents, arguments escalating into gun violence, etc., simply because those guns were around?

It’s the refuge of the simple man to consider a what-if scenario from only one side. But the reality is that every action has not only the reactions you want, but a whole load of unintended consequences that evidently you are either too stupid to foresee, or unwilling to take responsibility for.

I ditto the response of every 2nd amendment supporter…NYC gun laws are overly draconian and punish law abiding citizens, and treat them as so much sheep waiting to be slaughtered by criminals who could care less about Bloomberg (the fake Republican) and all those people willing to trample every law abiding American’s right to protect themselves and their property. I am lifetime New Yorker, who was mugged twice, and oh I wish at least one of those times I owned a gun, since it was obvious before I was mugged what was about to happen…A little flash of a silver handle would’ve definitely made the difference.

Isn’t it so funny Rich, how idiots like GP just assume that if everyone owned guns, they would be as stupid as he in handling them? And that the biggest supporters of gun rights are those who have needed them in the past, in dangerous situations like the 2 you had?

GP, should be outlaw knives and cars because they can kill? Is that what passes for a reasoned argument from the nanny-state defenders?

And LB, I don’t want to kill or be killed by anyone, all I ask for is the right to defend myself. With a gun, at least I am on a level playing field with the hordes of criminal gun owners who DON’T CARE what the law says.

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